• Paulo Coelho’s effect on me

    It is literally amazing what Paulo Coelho’s writing can do to me. I am one of the people who pride themselves for not being blindly religious. I admire science and logic. I have hungry eyes and an open mind to absorb things. It may have been part of why I named this blog. I observe…

  • Haya: Answering your questions

    I just won a fight over with The Observer. He was thinking of answering the tag of favourite blogger, and while he hasn’t formed a clear idea of what he wanted to write, and he didn’t even choose a favourite blogger because as he says everyone excels in a different league, he still wanted to…

  • Meet Haya: My imaginary blog friend

    Since I like defending women rights, and since it does feel different when a woman talks about the injustice in her life rather than a man talking about it, I decided to present you with a cyber imaginary Jordanian girl that I will call Haya, and which will be shaping her characteristics based on the…

  • "Albak Abyad" – You have a white heart

    “Albak Abyad” an egyptian expression that indicates a person with a good heart. It is literal translation to English is “You have a white heart” as opposed to being a bad person with a black heart. The expression is widely spread in our culture where I have always subconciously translated it to English thinking that…

  • My mom is advertising my blog

    It all started when I first brought home proudly the June issue of VIVA Magazine with my first article published in it. I rushed with a smile to my mom, dropping the magazine from my hand on to her lap and telling her to check how her son writes. Before that day, she had no…

  • Fares Karam success reflects the sexist-homophobic Arabic society

    Because ART usually reflect societies’ culture. And because Arabian -so called- ART is picking up due to the media technology revolution that hit the Arab world along with the strong competition of satellite channels. And because we – the Arab men – are still living in an era where a man’s masculinity is measured by…

  • Stranger at work

    I have been working at the same company for the past 5 years. Yet and while I hear some people calling their co-workers *family*, I still feel myself stranger. No matter how much of an easy going I am, and no matter how easy my communication with my fellow co-workers, and no matter me being…

  • Wish we can have 2 Ramadans/year

    Ramadan is over. Eid is over. And now we are back to our normal life and daily long working hours. I know that it wasn’t easy for people who had to fast in Ramadan, and that the shorter working hours is all about making it easy for them, but I have also witnessed the impact…

  • عالم ستي و الماضي والارواح و المعجزات

    عند ستي كم هائل من القصص التي تصلح لملء مجلدات من الكتب لتوثيق تاريخ حيلة عائلة مسيحية فلسطينية و التغييرات التي حصلت في المنطقة خلال القرن الماضي. عندما تبدأ بالحديث, لا تستطع التوقف. لديها اسلوب جميل في السرد, تضيف اليه بعض الفكاهة, وتمييزه بلكنتها الريفية التي حافظت عليها الى اليوم. تتكلم بلغة تجعلك تتعجب للتغييرات…

  • تاريخ الشعوب متشابه دائما

    لقد فرغت للتو من قراءة قصة بيت الأشباح “ذا هاوس اوف سبيريتس” ل ايزابيل اليندي. تروي الرواية قصة عائلة في ثلاثة اجيال عاشت في تشيلي خلال القرن الماضي. تتنقل الراوية بين الحياة الاجتماعية للشخوص و تفاعلهم مع محيطهم و التغيرات الاجتماعية, الاقتصادية, و السياسية التي مر في تشيلي خلال القرن الماضي ما يدعو للأستغراب و…